1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stereoscopic image shooting apparatus, and more particularly to a stereoscopic image shooting apparatus of a compound-eye type which performs stereoscopic shooting of a subject by use of a single image sensing device and two shooting optical systems.
2. Description of Related Art
In compound-eye stereoscopy using a single image sensing device, the image sensing surface of the image sensing device is used in a form divided into a left and a right image sensing area. In such a case, diffraction may cause one image to be seen in the other. That is, the image circle formed by the left shooting optical system may intrude into the right shooting area, or the image circle formed by the right shooting optical system may intrude into the left shooting area. In the image shooting apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 listed below, image degradation due to such intrusion between image circles is prevented by the provision of a partition wall between the left and right image sensing areas on the image sensing surface.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-H8-171151.
Inconveniently, however, with the stereoscopic image shooting apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, the provision of the partition wall constitutes an increase in the number of components. This complicates the adjustment of the position of the left and right images, and leads to increased cost.